Shear force distribution law of inclined webs box girder under live load

• Published in: Archives of civil engineering Vol. 68; no. 2; pp. 593 - 610
• Main Authors: Cui, Yujun, Wu, Longqing, Wang, Weiqi, Cao, Wei, Xue, Xingwei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Warsaw De Gruyter Poland 01.01.2022; Polish Academy of Sciences
• Subjects: Box girder bridges; Box girders; Chambers; Civil engineering; Finite element method; Force distribution; inclined web box girder; Live loads; Load; Load distribution; Mechanical properties; Numerical analysis; Safety factors; shear force distribution; Shear forces; Telematics; Three dimensional models; Traffic control; uneven distribution of web shear force; Urban areas; vehicle load; vehicle shear force distribution factor; Vehicles; Webs (structural)
• ISSN: 1230-2945; 2300-3103
• DOI: 10.24425/ace.2022.140661

Inclinedweb box girders are widely used in urban areas because of their attractive appearance. However, there are few studies on the vehicle shear force distribution of this type of bridge. In this study, we established 62 three-dimensional finite element models in which the shear force of each web of the box girder can be extracted; furthermore, we investigated the shear force distribution law in webs of the box girder under live loads, including single-chamber and multichamber inclined web box girders. The main parameters studied include the number of vehicle lanes and chambers, slope of the inclined webs, and support conditions. The results reveal that an uneven distribution of web shear force exists in both the single-chamber box girder and multichamber girder under live loads, and the maximum value of the vehicle shear force distribution factor is greater than the average shear value shared by all webs. Therefore, the uneven distribution of shear force in the webs of the box girder cannot be ignored under eccentric vehicle loads. These values greatly exceed the safety factor of 1.15 that is used in conventional calculations.